How smart is the Smart? That's an easy question if I was going to drive a vehicle in a big city in Europe. The answer is very smart. But what will the answer be in March of next year when the Smart Fourtwo will be sold here. That isn't obvious to me. It depends on what kind of answer you are looking for. If your answer needs to be in black or white, in brilliant or dumb, or something like that, you won't find that answer here.

Before I get into explaining my view, let's look at the punctuation of the car's name. In Europe, it seems to be smart car. I thought it was going to be the same lower case name here too, but it seems that I am at least partially wrong. If you go to the corporate web site, www.smartcarof america.com, you get the name "smart car of america" transmitted to you. But when you look at the actual web site, they title (when it isn't all caps), is Smart Car of America. The next thing you see is that this isn't the corporate web site at all. They do tell you that the name means "Superbly Manufactured And Reliable Transportation. Gee. If it really is an acronym, the name should be in all caps.

Then go to www.smartusa.com and you will find the real corporate web site. That one uses all lower case letters. This is where you are asked for your $99 to "make your reservation" to get your Smart car. To us lowly commoners, that means "waiting list". I am going to use Smart for the car to avoid confusion.

Why is the Smart a wise choice in European cities? My experience driving in European cities is that while traffic can be horrible, the biggest problem is parking when you get where you are going. There just isn't any. None. That makes subways and busses -- or maybe taxis -- a very wise choice for a tourist. But if you are a resident, then a Smart is the best choice, because most parking is on the street and there are often tiny places available that a bigger car wouldn't fit into.

In Los Angeles, however, that is rarely the problem. We have parking lots and marked parking places for street parking. That means that, while you could put two Smarts into one of the parking places, it will be a long time indeed before you will find two Smart owners in the same place at the same time. Granted, I am looking at this with a view from Pasadena. My compatriot, Even, with his view from the west side might have a different view where residents often compete for non-marked street parking.

So what advantage is the smallness of the Smart other than parking? My problem is that I can't think of anything.

The estimated price of the Smart is $14,000. I am tempted to compare it to another car of about the same price, say a Hyundai or Kia. That probably isn't the right choice, though. The prospective buyer of a Smart is likely to be someone who already has two or three cars in the garage and will use it for those short trips in the city where it makes sense. I can't imagine someone buying a Smart as their only car unless they live in the Westside and never plan to drive anywhere else.

What is the most likely comparison choice? I will pick the Honda Civic Hybrid. Both cars make a statement about the environment. Granted, the Civic is $8000 more money. But... Looking at fuel economy, which is likely what most prospective buyers will look at is revealing. The Civic Hybrid gets an estimated 49 miles/gallon in the city and the Smart gets just 40 in the city. Since both cars are most likely to be driven a lot in the city, it seems that is the best comparison. The Civic wins here.

One thing that isn't likely to be too high in the list of important things for a buyer would be performance. This, however, is an interesting thing to look at. Performance to a buyer of a car like this is only important if it is so poor that it isn't acceptable. The only comparison I have right now is an estimate of 0-60 miles/hour time for the Smart from Motor Trend and that is 12 seconds. That was an acceptable time in the 1950s, but is really slow today. On the other hand, Motor Trend measures the Civic Hybrid time for 0-60 at 12.4 seconds. They certainly are comparable, something which I didn't expect.

Another perception about the Smart is its "performance" in an accident. DaimlerChrysler has tested the car in Europe and it has performed very well. It scores very high on the European NCAP tests and passes all the U.S. government tests as well. The problem is what a buyer will think will happen when confronted with a Hummer H2. (Oops, that's another typographical error because that manufacturer insists it is a HUMMER.) The Hummer is 190 inches long, the Smart just 106 inches -- almost half as long. The Hummer is 81 inches wide, the Smart is 61 inches wide. The Hummer is 79 inches high, the Smart is 61 inches. That's pretty tall for such a small car. But still the Smart is dwarfed by the Hummer, particularly when the weight is compared. The Hummer weighs 6400 pounds and the Smart just 1650. What do you think will happen in an accident?

DaimlerChrysler says that the Smart has a sandwich floor that is designed to absorb impacts and that the occupants sit "high above the likely impact zone." Tell that to a Smart driver when he is looking at the Hummer next to him. So it seems that the smallness of the Smart can also be a disadvantage.

This may not make much difference if you are just driving around in the city. But on the freeway, those Hummers will look very big indeed. Freeway traffic might also be a problem because the rated top speed of the Smart is 91 miles/hour. That is pretty close to the 85 that I find myself going all too often these days. So if you and your Smart are going on the freeway, you might want to stay in the right lanes. On the other hand, maybe not because if you think a Hummer looks really big compared to your Smart, what does a semi-truck look like?

The clear advantage of the Civic Hybrid is that it can carry four real people and some cargo, whereas the Smart can carry just two people and a little cargo. Two people can go to the grocery store in a Smart, but they can't buy a lot of groceries -- likely enough for two people, though.

The big advantage the Smart has over the Civic Hybrid is its fashion-statement styling. Looking at the picture, the silver "frame" of the car really is a steel cage with the colored plastic panels attached. Smart (in Europe) advertises that you can buy a different set of plastic panels and change the color of your car whenever you want. Or you can buy an assorted set of colored panels and make a multi-colored car. How about that for a fashion statement?!

The Civic Hybrid, on the other hand, is a bland looking Civic. The only distinctive thing about the Civic Hybrid is when one has those ugly carpool stickers on it. And those aren't available anymore.

If the Smart is to be used as just a commuter car, it probably smart not to plan a long freeway commute. If you do a lot of travel on the Westside, the Smart might make sense, particularly if you want to be fashionable. I do not live there, and I do a lot of freeway travel -- just around Pasadena. The Smart doesn't seem too smart to me.